Thank You

Okay, first of all, THANK YOU for reading Tynan.net. My impulse in every post I write is to express my gratitude to you as a reader, but I don't because I think it would become annoying and probably not seem as genuine is it really is. So here's my yearly thank you.

Whether you've just started reading, you subscribe to every different feed I have, or even if you're one of the very few people who only write nasty comments, I'm really glad to have you as a reader. It's easy to get caught up in subscriber numbers and pageviews and all that, but I never forget that each number represents a real person who cares enough about what I have to say to take time out of their days and visit. I'm flattered and humbled to have every single person read. Thank you.

Over the past year I've met a bunch of readers, and I'm once again overwhelmed and honored that these people read my site. They range from people just barely breaking out of the mold, but eager and ambitious to people I've respected for years and had no idea even knew I existed (like the author of my favorite books in High School!). I can't meet all of my readers, but from the sample I have met, I can get an idea of who I'm writing for.

Also, a special thank you to people who comment on posts and to the people who have bought my products. I'm not the best at replying to comments, but I read every last one and get a lot out of the feedback. I think the quality of comments on my site is very high and adds to the reading experience, so thank you for helping me make this a good site to read.

It's a tricky balance charging money for products I put out and not becoming one of those sites that focuses on extracting every last dollar from the readers. Creating quality products that will create lifelong benefit for the purchasers is always my first priority, and it's awesome to see that people are willing to try out what I create and often send me an email letting me know what they thought (on a side note, user reviews on Amazon.com directly and drastically affect the recommendations engine, which is where most of my sales come from. If my book made a big difference in your life, a good review on Amazon could make a big difference in mine).

The Email Popup

I know that most people don't like the pop up that asks for your email. The reason I don't take it down is because it results in a significant amount of subscribers. I WILL improve it, though, by making an option to never see it and make it look better. I've already disabled it on iphones, because someone told me that it interferes with reading the rest of the site. I'm mentioning this in hopes that people won't write about it in the survey.

The Survey

Every year I like to do a survey. Before I tell you about it, I want to make it clear that people's responses play a big part in my actions. I make decisions based on individual suggestions as well as aggregate trends that I notice. So if you take the time to fill it out-and I hope you will-do it knowing that I personally read it and consider everything you write. It's not just for fun or to prop up my ego-it's a tool to make this site better for everyone.

Some notes on the questions:

I ask what you'd be willing to pay for for a couple of reasons. First, I think money talks-if you're willing to pay for something, it's important to you. I personally like paying for things from people I respect, as long as it's a good value and the producer's first goal was quality. As my income from the site increases, it makes more sense to spend more time writing posts, as well as creating and editing videos (which takes a long time). I find it hard to figure out what people would like to buy from me, so I think there's a good chance you might suggest something that I would never think of myself. Some ideas to get you started: books, videos, coaching, seminars, web apps, etc.

I'm also very interested in what makes you share an article. It seems that relative to the positive response, comments, and readership, my posts don't get passed around as much as I'd expect. I'm curious to find out why. One big change I made as a result of a previous survey was moving from betterthanyourboyfriend.com to tynan.net. A few people told me that they didn't link to the site because the name put people off.

Please consider taking a few minutes to do the survey. The boxes look really small, but you can actually write as much as you want. Thank you!

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY!